


Cold Warrior

by Yogurt_Tea



Series: Sonorous Silence [1]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Character Study, Fluff, Gen, Huddling For Warmth, Hurt/Comfort, Hypothermia, Mute Link (Legend of Zelda), Pre-Calamity (Legend of Zelda), Pre-Relationship, Selectively Mute Link (Legend of Zelda)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:01:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27311575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yogurt_Tea/pseuds/Yogurt_Tea
Summary: The foreign feeling of panic starts to settle in. Revali may be no expert to Hylian physiology, but he saw how Hylians fared in the cold. Their cheeks were a bright blotchy red in the cold. It wasn't the deathly pale white he was looking at now.He has to choke down a mirthless laugh. How ironic would that be, the destined savior bested by the mere natural elements.Or the one where Revali kicks an unconscious Link collapsed in the snow.
Relationships: Link & Revali (Legend of Zelda), Link/Revali (Legend of Zelda)
Series: Sonorous Silence [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2179500
Comments: 28
Kudos: 448





	1. Chapter 1

If there was one thing Revali was grateful for, it was his feathers.

Not only for their obvious function of being able to fly, but their more practical function of trapping air to keep warm.

He’s always reminded to be grateful of that whenever he sees those Hylians in their ridiculously layered garb and slow trudging through the snow.

Zelda and her guards—of course, that would include Link— are at Rito village, visiting in hopes that perhaps Zelda would awaken her powers from connecting with the other races and feeling a greater bond to the far reaches of Hyrule.

Unsurprisingly, it’s been fruitless.

While Revali cannot empathize entirely on Zelda’s poor results, he can understand her frustrations on some degree. She may say the most cringey lines at times, but she does it with an unwavering determination that Revali can respect.

What he cannot respect is her blank-faced bodyguard, Link.

Link had earned nothing, and was given everything. He would be the one to earn all the recognition for stopping the calamity. His name would be forever inscribed into all the history books, while Revali would be a sidenote.

It irked him greatly. Link may be a soldier who performed well in battle, but he never earned the title of the greatest swordsman of all time. He never invented a revolutionary technique thought impossible for his kind. And yet that Link hadn’t even batted an eye at any of Revali’s accomplishments. Revali had every right to be frustrated to be relegated to the sidekick role. Especially because of some pointless Hylian prophecy of a rusty blade shoved into a rock.

A clamor sounds below in the village, the shout of some Hylian soldier in cheer. What is it now? He gracefully descends down to the lower huts to see some of the Ritos and of the two soldiers accompanying Zelda playing a game of cards.

Revali scoffs. Of course they’d spend their evenings with simple dalliances. If these knights were considered privileged enough to guard royalty—something the Hylians apparently valued greatly— it was no wonder they could accept someone like Link as their destined savior.

Annoyed, Revali quickly picks his bow up leaning against the nightstand. The sun is almost completely buried into the horizon, but an hour or two of extra practice on top of what he’s already done for the day couldn’t hurt. He refills his quiver with his standard arrows and sets off to the flight range with a practiced gust of air jetting him upwards.

The prospect of solitude, with only he and his targets to worry about, was comforting With his mind solely focused on archery, there would be no room for frustrating thoughts.

That is, what he thought, until he saw a lone figure in the distance already occupying the range. A Hylian is standing on the edge of the platform, the darkness-sealing sword clearly visible on his back.

Revali lands on the roof of the flight range hut, and observes.

Link’s shoots, and his archery are far from the pin-point accuracy that Revali has. While almost all the arrows hit the targets, they all stray from the center bullseye. Link draws his bow with clumsy haste and power. His bowmanship would serve him as needed as a soldier, but it was far from the precision one would expect from a top-class soldier, much less the Hylian Champion.

Link lets his bow arm limp, and stares at the target’s he hit. Revali can’t see his expression from this angle. What was it? Pride over his pitiful shots? Disappointment that that was the best he could do? Or was it that all too common infuriating blank expression?

Revali decides this would be the time to make his presence known.

“Really, is that the best you can do?”

Link whirls around, startled. His eyes wide in a rare moment of surprise, before settling into his usual empty face.

Revali scoffs, “While you and I both know I’m leagues above you, I had thought you would at least have some semblance of skill.”

Link stares blankly, not responding. Not that Revali expected a response from the arrogant knight.

“If you’re done playing games, I’ll go ahead and show you how a true master handles the bow.”

And he does. Similar to the display he had showed the princess, he uses his gale to jetstream upwards. In the span of seconds, he has loaded his bow multiple times and shot half the targets with killer accuracy.

He lands, and immediately looks over to Link to see his reaction. And despite it all, despite witnessing Revali’s masterful archery with his own eyes, Link doesn’t show any sign of acknowledgment of Revali’s skill.

That was the second time he had showed off his Gale to Link, and once again, all he got in return was the same unimpressed impasse expression.

New frustration fills him, and he suddenly wants nothing more than to be alone. If Link thought Revali not even worth talking to, if he decided to act so indifferent to the greatest archer of Rito, no, likely the greatest archer in Hyrule, then Revali wouldn’t wouldn’t bother continuing this one-sided conversation.

“Why don’t you run off to your princess? You can at least be a good shield for her despite your shortcomings and ineptitude at the bow.”

Revali glares as harshly as possible, challenging Link to respond or at least sharpen his eyes from the dull look to anger, hate, anything.

Link doesn’t say anything. He just stares at Revali, not so much as a twitch of a muscle.

“Are your ears just as damaged as that brain of yours?” Revali sneers. He steps closer, and narrows his eyes. Somehow Link’s silence is the most disappointing outcome of all this, “You’re only getting in my way. Some of us rely on skills instead of trinkets to ascertain worth.”

Link still doesn’t move. There isn’t defiance or anger in his eyes, just an unreadable look. It’s as if he’s looking right through Revali, past all his bravado and accomplishments as if they were nothing.

It is as infuriating as it is unsettling.

Revali feels the urge to leave, but this time there is no convenient excuse to fly up to Vah Medoh to be alone, nor does he want to. He came here to practice his archery, and damn it all if he’s going to be driven away by this sub-par Hylian.

Then before Revali say anything else, Link turns away. He picks up his bow and quiver and walks away from Revali to the ladder wordlessly. Not once does Link turn around to look back at Revali after descending the ladder and it is only when his figure disappears behind an outcropping of rock does Revali realize he’s been staring at Link this whole time.

Frustrated with himself now, Revali yanks his bow off his back and surges upwards to begin his practice anew. He draws his bow with three arrows, and even with the sun fading fast, his eyes easily locks onto the targets. The familiar feeling of arrows whisking past his feathertips results in solid sounds of metal arrowtips meeting wood that soothes some of his tension. Then, in the same motion, he shifts his focus to the next three targets and his mind shuts out everything other than him and his bow.

* * *

Countless arrows later, Revali finds the moon no longer on the edge of the horizon, but high in the sky above him. He would have to head back to the village, he couldn’t stay here overnight comfortably. Whoever last used the fireplace hadn’t thought to restock the wood or the flint, and he didn’t feel like going to sleep with a chill still in his feathers.

It doesn’t matter, he has had enough of this impromptu training session. He only left to seek a distraction, and a distraction he had gotten.

It was time to head back.

Revali closes his eyes, focuses, and pulls the gale together to lift him upwards.

The familiar gust of air shoots him up. He teeters for just a second towards the end of the updraft, but he isn’t flung to the cliffside for a painful landing. Still, there is always room for improvement. He spreads out his wings and starts to make way back to the village

The night is cold, enough so that it stings his eyes and starts to work it’s way even through all his layers of feathers. He shouldn’t dally out on an extended flight, he’s already worn down his body, and both exhaustion and coldness is a recipe for disaster.

He’s barely past the entrance of the range when he sees something peculiar in the snow. Corpses of Lizalfos are scattered in the snow with multiple arrows sticking every which way out of them. Revali clicks his tongue in annoyance. What a waste of arrows. One precision shot to the Lizalfos’ horn would have been more than enough to dispense of them.

The spots of icy blue corpses line the area. There aren’t too many of them—to Revali’s sharp eyes he counts about five. It is clear whoever disposed of them was purposefully luring them out of their dens into the open to kill them. Then it hits him that that someone must have been out shooting Lizalfos very recently. They certainly weren’t there when he came to the range an hour ago.

This must be Link’s doing. He’s already displayed his haphazard shooting at the range well enough. Did he really feel the need to strewn about corpses of the beasts all over the scenery to try and prove himself?

Wait, it isn’t just Lizalfos decorating the landscape, there’s another body further out. Strange, if Revali didn’t know better, he would say it was a Hylian. He shakes his head to try and wave off whatever illusion his tired mind conjured up, but the image before his eyes stubbornly stayed the same.

He squints and realizes it isn’t just a Hylian, but the Hylian. Revali quickly descends, still in disbelief. Link is lying partially facedown into the snow, the unmistakable Master Sword sheathed at his back.

Revali walks over with practiced ease and nudges him with a foot, “Please tell me this really isn’t what the so-called savior does in his free time.”

No response.

Instead of irritation from Link’s silence, a prickle of worry digs into him. He pushes Link with his foot again, harder this time, “You can’t sleep here. While a Rito like myself would have no problem sleeping in the cold, I know very well your kind aren’t that cold resistant.”

Still no response.

This time he kicks Link. Hard.

“Get up.”

Nothing.

_“Get. Up.”_

The foreign feeling of panic starts to settle in. He may be no expert to Hylian physiology, but he saw how Hylians fared in the cold. Their cheeks were normally a bright blotchy red in the cold. It wasn't the deathly pale white he was looking at now.

Revali has to choke down a mirthless laugh. How ironic would that be, the destined savior bested by the mere natural elements.

He quickly rests a wing against Link’s face, and feels the faintest exhale from him. Not dead, but his skin is as cold as the snow he’s lying in.

He curses softly. He had few options, none appealing.

If he wanted to get help, he would have to leave Link alone in the cold for longer. And that would take approximately fifteen minutes. Five minutes for him to fly there, ten minutes to drag the others here. Leaving Link alone in the cold in his current condition is risky enough, but with the additional threat of Lizalfos wandering around—especially after their breathen had been provoked— it is too much of a risk to take.

He could try and fly Link back to the village himself, but that was probably the worst option he had. He couldn’t carry Link on his back since he would just fall off. If he carried Link with his talons, Link would be exposed to the brunt of the cold cutting winds and he’d easily freeze to death.

Revali had no materials to start a fire—not even fire arrows— and it would take too long to try and drag Link back to the archery range.

Revali grimaces. Of course the only option he has left is going to be the most humiliating for him. But he doesn’t have the luxury of keeping his pride afloat, thanks to Link’s foolish actions. He grabs Link under the arms and starts half-carrying, half-dragging him to one of the nearby pine trees. If Revali was going to be relegated to the demeaning position of heating pad, he would at least try to protect both of them from the wind. He then kicks away the surrounding snow so at least it’s mostly grass and not snow.

Revali inhales deeply before sighing in exasperation. There was no more delaying what must be done. He carefully pulls Link closer to himself, and tries not to flinch when Link’s cold body makes contact with his own. He sits down, his back leaning against the pine tree. He wraps both his wings around Link, pulling him close despite how the cold skin seeped away at his own warmth.

He shudders. It is about as comfortable as holding a block of ice. Link’s body is far colder that he had initially thought. It feels as if all the warmth is being sapped from his own body, and even then Link doesn’t feel much warmer. It takes no small amount of self-control to not try and shake him awake, both out of frustration and of the squirming feeling of panic taking root.

What kind of savior burdens others like this? Is this some sort of twisted form of revenge? Then he scoffs. No, Link clearly didn’t care enough about Revali to talk to him, let alone think up something complicated like revenge.

It’s strange though. Revali was well aware how short Link is, but now, holding his body like this, he feels oddly smaller than he remembers. He doesn’t dwell on the thought, he knew well enough how looks could be deceiving.

* * *

He’s uncertain exactly how much time passes, but it’s enough that the moon is able to shift closer back to the horizon.

Revali’s own body isn’t that warm anymore, but on the same note, Link doesn’t feel nearly as cold as before. Perhaps now Revali could leave Link’s side to alert the princess to her knight’s recent act of idiocy. Link no longer seems to be in danger of freezing to death, nor did Revali see a single wandering Lizalfos in all the time he was with Link.

He slowly unwraps his wings from Link. He fully intends to push Link off of him, but then Link shifts, murmuring something unintelligible. He freezes up. He’s not sure what would be more mortifying, Link waking up now, while Revali’s in this humiliating position, or Link waking up immediately after Revali shoves him back into the snowand letting implications fill the knight’s mind instead.

Before he can decide between the two, he feels two arms wrap around his torso.

It’s such a strange sensation, especially coming from Link. He can’t recall the last time someone had hugged him. Without thinking, his wings automatically fall back in place to reciprocate the embrace, an odd warmth filling him.

And then he catches himself, suddenly aghast with what he is doing. How could he forget, this is Link of all Hylians.

No, Revali shouldn’t be embarrassed over something like this. If anything, Link should be the one embarrassed to have been so careless that he had to rely on someone in the vicinity for basic survival. In fact, it is so reckless and idiotic, perhaps Revali should wake up Link just to make him well aware of it.

“Even my patience has limits you know. Are you done drooling on my magnificent plumage yet?”

Link shifts, and then Revali feels him stiffen.

He expects Link to jump up, both in shock and then in shame for what his careless actions had led to.

Instead, Link just lifts his head to look Revali in the face. Instead of his usual empty stare Revali has come to loathe, Link looks at him with eyes wide in surprise, then confusion. Link draws his arms back to himself, and Revali does the same.

“I found you half buried in the snow. I thought you had already passed on, but then I found that unfortunately you were still breathing.” He scoffs, “Thus I was forced with the responsibility to ensure your death didn’t burden my conscience.”

Link’s surprise fades, and he slowly nods. It’s clear Link’s puzzling the current scenario and clicking the pieces into place. Link moves away. A cold gust of air takes place of the body Revali held only seconds ago. Link stands up, wobbling only for a moment before he regains his balance.

Revali follows suit and stands to his feet, “Without me, I’m sure you would have died out here in the cold.” He wraps his wings around himself, “You’re lucky I’m so diligent in my training that I would be out here at this time of night. All your friends are causing an uproar with their silly games. I doubt they’d even noticed you left.”

Link snorts, and Revali jerks his head down to look at him in surprise. While it wasn’t words, it was odd to hear anything from Link. The corners of Link’s mouth are lifted ever so slightly at the hint of a smile. It’s conflicting, Revali feels triumphant that he finally got a reaction out of Link, but feels in equal parts extremely annoyed that the first reaction he’s ever gotten out of Link was a snort of laughter.

Revali clears his throat, “I’m glad you find this so amusing.” he says, voice dripping with sarcasm, “I for one did not appreciate being subjected to the cold outdoors sacrificing precious sleep because of your idiocy.” He snaps, voice much harsher than he truly means.

The slight smile on Link’s face drops, and then he looks away, his face regaining the same cold emptiness Revali has grown to hate, and it’s like he’s being shut out again.

Before he can stop himself, his beak moves before his brain, “But missing one night’s rest is nothing—the alternative to what may have happened would be much more unbearable—” He stops himself. The words were coming out too quickly, too honest, he quickly backtracks, “Think how it would make us Ritos look if you froze your brainless self out in the cold. We have no need of diplomatic issues caused by fools running around in the cold. who just happen to be high-ranked knights.”

Link’s face changes from blankness to something of a more thoughtful expression. Then, to Revali’s surprise, Link gives him a slight bow.

It flusters Revali to say the least. He had thought the knight to be prouder than this. It doesn’t feel right either. It’s almost aggravating that when Link’s finally decides to show him respect, it’s for something any other Rito could have done.

Before Revali can even muster up some sort of coherent response, Link then turns, and starts walking away.

“And where do you think you’re going?”

Link turns, face now neutral, and simply looks over at Rito village.

Revali scoffs, “You have a paraglider do you not? You’ll collapse again if you intend to take the long route around by foot. If you walk to the cliffside and glide off of it, the air currents will easily carry you up.”

Link looks between Revali, and then to the village, eyes lighting up in understanding. Then infuriatingly enough, Link smiles at him. Unbelievable. Of course after all this time, Link would choose the most annoying time to show emotion.

“It’s common knowledge that you should know.” Revali deadpans, “With this, I presume you can take care of yourself from here?”

Link nods, the trace of a smile still lingering. Revali feels his tenseness dissolve ever so slightly. It’s nice to actually get a response out of Link, rather than that stone indifference, even if it is for rudimentary things any other Rito is capable of.

“Take care to get back safely this time.” Revali mutters, quiet enough that he’s not sure if Link heard him.

And then Revali summons his gale, whisking himself far above and away from the ground. The slightest hint of red tinges the horizon. Soon it would be dawn, thus meaning Revali would only get a meager two to three hours of sleep thanks to Link.

As tempted as he is to look back to see if Link is in fact heeding his advice, his pride refuses to risk the chance Link may catch him looking.

Revali lands atop his hut with ease. Only then does he turn around to look for Link. With eyesight far superior to a Hylian, he’s easily able to spot him nearing the edge of the cliff. Link leaps off, pulling out his paraglider and slowly gliding towards the village. As expected, a gust pushes him up and Link lands on one of the landings with practiced ease.

Revali exhales, releasing a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding. It’s good to see Link finally realized that Revali’s advice was just as useful as he boasts.

Link descends down the steps, disappearing around the bend behind the central rock pillar.

Then Revali is left with the stillness of the dark morning hours. The entirety of the village is quiet, asleep. The Hylians, nor the Ritos had noticed the disappearance of both their champions. That thought stung a little more than he thought it would.

Then another thought hits him. Nobody realized Link had left- or at the very least, they hadn’t noticed Link hadn’t come back.

While perhaps Link wouldn’t have left the archery range had it not been for Revali, at the same time, there was no more flint at the archery range for Link to have started a fire to have stayed there overnight. And judging from the way Link had been training—sloppy as it was— Link looked like he was going to train to exhaustion. By the time he would have realized there was no spare flint there, he would have been exhausted and weak.

If Revali didn't come out there when he did, nobody would have gone out to search for Link. He very well could have frozen to death out there. Which means Revali was completely justified in his actions, and no one could say otherwise or mock him for it.

In a sense, this could be considered a victory for Revali in proving he is better than Link. At the very least, Link was in his debt now.

The thought doesn't bring him comfort, instead it is only a grim reminder of how close to Link was to death.

He shakes his head. Frivolous details. They don’t matter now, he should be getting as much sleep as the dawn will permit him.

Revali hops down from the roof, and steps into his home. He doesn't waste time hopping up into his hammock. Perhaps when he awakens again in an hour or so, he can convince himself it was all just some horrid dream.

In almost no time at all, his body relaxes, succumbing to sleep.

Instead of anger, shame or embarrassment haunting him before he completely drifts off to sleep, all he feels is the warmth of relief and the hope of new things to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: When Link wakes up it’s with fully recovered + 3 hearts and an extra stamina wheel.
> 
> Also! The title is reference to both Revali being an emotionally cold character, and Link being quite _literally_ cold.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, Revali starts wishing it was all just a dream.

The soldier’s racket wakes Revali before anything else gets a chance.

“I say twenty rupees he’s been up all night guarding the princess and still is. Hah! Just a guy chasing a girl out of his league like a lovestruck puppy.”

“No! Come on Dunsk, we all already know Paduke has the night shift to guard the princess, and he would have raised a fuss about it.”

“I bet fifty rupees he’s out at Mt. Hebra to go shield surfing!”

“Now we’re talking! My personally opinion is that Link’s been out terrorizing the local wildlife to get fresh ingredients to make perfect stew for one of the Rito ladies! Guy looks like he has weird tastes. I stake thirty rupees on it!”

Unbelievable. Do these soldiers really have nothing better to do than gossip about Link? He groans, of all the vacant huts in the village, why did the soldiers have to pick the one directly adjacent to Revali’s?

“Wait, wait, but this is Link we’re talking here. Don’t you think it’s more likely he would just cook for himself? I don’t think I’ve ever seen him eat with anyone.”

“If that were the case, he’d be back by now! He’s a loner, but he’s always back before anyone can notice. He obviously has to be with someone--”

That catches his attention. Revali jerks upright, alarmed, processing the implications. Link never came back?

And then he curses himself. Revali had literally saw Link descend the stairs _away_ from the hut where he should have been sleeping. It should be no surprise that Link isn’t there with them now.

Revali leaps out of his hammock and quickly smooths down any ruffled feathers. Did Link go back outside the village to train? Again? Seriously? Did he not learn his lesson the first time?

Before he goes out looking for Hylia’s chosen idiot, perhaps he should pay a visit to his wake-up-call.

“Excuse me.” Revali calls from the entrance of the soldier’s hut. They all stiffen and turn to him. “If you’re going to disrespect to your superiors, do it quieter.” he snarls.

And before the guards can waste more of his time with whatever they have to say, Revali turns on his heel and walks away.

If the soldiers don’t know where Link is, then he likely isn’t in the village. The only place of note within the nearby vicinity was in fact the archery range. If not there, the gluttonous knight may be hunting the wildlife as one of the soldiers mentioned.

Then Revali stops that train of thought. What exactly is it that he plans to do? Go look for Link? He shakes his head. The idea is ridiculous, Link isn’t his responsibility. Revali is the Champion of the Ritos, not a babysitter.

Instead of that, he’ll do training fit for someone of his caliber. He’ll fly up to the Divine Beast Vah Medoh and ensure everything is running smoothly. Not that anything has ever gone wrong on Revali’s watch, but being alone high above with Vah Medoh sounds more and more appealing than searching for Link. If the savior couldn’t even save himself, then Hyrule was royally screwed.

Revali gales himself upwards, toward the top of the precipice of the center rock column of Rito village. From there, he’ll be able to use his gale again and arrive at Vah Medoh faster than any basic flying could ever hope to achieve.

However, as he nears the top of the column, he notices smoke rising from it. Smoke, rising from a place where there should only be rock.

And then he sees why.

At the very top of the rock is a campfire. Directly next to the fire is Link, roasting a hearty salmon on the end of a stick. Revali pauses, stopping the gale from propelling him upwards and stops in place. Link looks up, and meets Revali’s eyes.

Link blinks a few times in disbelief, looking as surprised as Revali feels.

Revali is sorely tempted to push his gale further and simply continue his upward ascent towards Vah Medoh. However, curiosity wins out, and instead he lands on the edge of the rock.

“What-” Revali gestures to the fireplace, “-are you doing?”

Link blinks, and then points to the fish on the stick. As if to say: _Isn’t it obvious what I’m doing?_

Revali narrows his eyes, “That’s clearly not what I meant.”

Link shrugs, and then pulls out another hearty salmon before skewering it on the stick and setting it aside on top his paraglider—which couldn’t be much cleaner than the rock in Revali’s opinion. After another stretch of silence, Revali realizes he’s being ignored.

Before he can get annoyed, something he should have questioned sooner pops into his mind. How the _hell_ did Link get up here? Even for a Rito, it is no easy task to fly up here without a lucky gust, extreme stamina, or an ingenious gale like Revali’s. The paraglider alone couldn’t have gotten Link up here. And if rudimentary flight isn’t an option then does that mean Link _climbed_ up here?

No. No he is not going to ask. He’s not going to give Link the satisfaction of knowing how truly impressive it is that he managed to get up here on his own.

Link turns over the stick in his hand, closely examining to see if the fish he was roasting was fully cooked. He’s completely focused on the task, seemingly already forgotten Revali was here.

“I didn’t realize you preferred cold rock over a warm bed.” Revali says, just to say something “One would think—”

He’s interrupted by a cooked fish being suddenly shoved toward his face. A determined expression set into Link’s face. It’s clear that he wants Revali to take it.

Revali stares, dumbfounded, too surprised to take the offering. What is the meaning of this? Everything about this situation is too strange to comprehend, really.

Apparently Revali takes too long to respond, because Link then retracts his arm, along with the offering. Then before Revali can process it, Link tries to hand him the stick with the raw salmon, looking a bit more unsure of himself now.

It doesn’t take a genius to understand the thought process of Link’s actions.

“Rito do not eat food raw if we don’t have to. You do realize we have cooking pots for a reason?”

Link’s cheeks redden suddenly, this time seemingly unrelated to the weather. Link then shoves the stick with the cooked salmon into Revali’s wings, forcing him to either take it, or let it drop onto the ground.

Revali takes the stick, if only to prevent the wasting of good food.

Link turns back a little too quickly to the fire, and begins to roast the other salmon. Ignoring Revali again.

“That does seem fitting for you. Thanking someone who saved your life with a fish.”

Link doesn’t move, but he can see Link stiffen a bit at the words. Revali almost guffaws. What a strange reaction for the normally stoic knight. That last insult hardly had any bite compared to some of the things Revali has said before.

“Although I suppose this is probably the best you can do to repay a debt. Being as generous as I am, I’ll accept it.”

Link nods slowly, his face still red. Revali stares, growing more confused. The only times Revali’s has seen Hylians turn red is when they’re entering Rito village after trekking through the cold.

“Unbelievable, you’re still cold even in front of a fire? Maybe next time you’ll think about how altitude affects temperature before you start scaling the highest thing in sight.”

Link unsurprisingly doesn’t respond.

“If you’re expecting me to coddle you again in return for a fish, I’m sorry to disappoint but that won’t be happening.”

Still no response. Unless Link turning the fish over in the fire counts as one.

Giving up on conversation, Revali walks over and takes a seat opposite of Link. He turns over the stick with the skewered fish Link gave him between his feathers. Without much else to do, he takes a bite of the cooked hearty salmon. Apparently Link is more proficient in the culinary arts than he thought. The outside skin is charred just right, and the meat inside is sweetly tender.

“While it is a simple task for someone as great as myself to fly up here to eat breakfast, I doubt you couldn’t have gotten up here without a fair level of exertion. Why bother? Why are you up here?”

Link’s gaze stays fixed on the fish, but his expression changes from the pout from before to something more guarded. Something that clearly communicated: _None of your business._

Then Link looks up from the fish at Revali, pointing at him with a questioning look and a tilt of the head.

_What about you?_

He puffs up his chest, “I was on my way to take care of my duty as Champion and check up on my Divine Beast. Vah Medoh is a very complicated work of technology, and of course since the others have realized I am the only one capable of piloting it, I must fulfill my duty and ensure it is well taken care of.”

Link nods, not questioning it. How could he? It’s not like he had a Divine Beast of his own. Otherwise Link would know that Vah Medoh has no need of maintenance that would require Revali to go up to it as often as he does.

Then Revali looks at the scene upon him with a new lens. Link obviously went through great lengths to get far, far up here, for what looks to be for just a quiet breakfast. Perhaps Link had wanted a moment of solitude as well. Thinking back on those rowdy soldiers, it isn’t so hard to believe. It is likely the same reason why Link was out at the archery range last night as well.

It doesn’t matter. It isn’t any of his business.

Revali’s gaze wanders to the sky. The sun is already rising into the sky, the soft familiar blues of daytime slowly overtaking the lingering darkness. The clouds on the other hand still tell a story of the night, with the pinks and reds singing of the resurgence of the sun.

The sunrise is beautiful.

And Link is completely missing it because he’s too preoccupied checking his fish.

Link has now pulled the fish out of the fire, and is now checking to see if it’s fully cooked. He doesn’t seem to have any other purpose for being here other than breakfast as far as Revali can tell. It’s as if Link doesn’t even realize what the gorgeous scenery all around him.

Revali huffs, “Of course you would be focused on food rather than anything else.” he says, more to himself than to Link, but still audible enough that Link could easily hear.

Link doesn’t respond, instead taking a bit of his now cooked fish.

Merely one day ago, Revali would have pushed and tried to get more of a response out of Link, but this morning, he’s too tired to really argue. It isn’t because of sudden sentimentality or anything sappy like that. For once, Link is being more responsive than normal, and it is a lot more tolerable than his normal stoic self, so Revali might as well cut him some slack for it.

Revali sighs, too sleep-deprived to make a jab at Link, “I’ve seen the sunrise from atop Mt. Hebra, and from Medoh, but it has always been the best from here.”

This gets the result Revali wanted. Link looks up from his fish, first to Revali, and then to the ombre sky.

Link takes it in, and then points to Vah Medoh with a questioning look.

Revali scoffs. Again with the pointing? If Link is in fact capable of speech, Revali gets the feeling he would say only the shortest and simplest of sentences.

“Vah Medoh may be higher up, but it doesn’t mean I prefer it for viewing the sunrise. Up there is too—” He stops himself. Far away? As if he’s no longer a part of the world below?

“—busy.” he finishes lamely, “Piloting a divine beast is just as glamorous as you might think. In another sense however, it is too distracting to fully appreciate the simplicity of nature.”

Link nods, clearly more focused on taking another bite of his now cooked fish than what Revali is saying.

Revali rolls his eyes. Why does he even bother? He might as well just follow Link’s lead and eat his own fish.

Link's way of communication is subtle, but it is certainly there. And right now he was expressing a wish to not talk and simply eat.

Even the gift of the fish was a replacement of words. There is no way Link could have predicted Revali would come up here, thus Link must have intended to come up here alone and eat his two hearty salmon in solitude. But instead he gave one to Revali. Revali doubts it’s because Link wanted to give Revali the fish per-say—he’s seen firsthand how much Link could eat—but more to communicate the idea that it was fine if Revali stayed.

Still, it is likely because the two of them are alone, and so far away from others' eyes that Link is even willing to express the slightest of emotions and the rudimentary attempts at communication.

Why Link would want Revali to stay though, is anyone’s best guess.

* * *

As with all things, the moment had to come to an end. That moment was when the fire dwindled to nothing but smoke and a few dying embers.

“Are you done avoiding your duties now?”

Link gives him a blank look.

Revali scoffs, “You do know that others notice when you’re gone, don’t you? If you’re going to be the hero, you should start considering the consequences your actions have on your dear Zelda and how you stand as a representative of all Hylians.”

Link frowns, mouth pressed into a hard line, and then he looks away, a spark of some unreadable emotion hidden behind the clenched jaw. Hurt? Anger? A defeated acceptance? Whatever it is, it isn’t positive.

Link looks as if he wants to say something, but chooses not to. Instead, he goes back into his shell and hides behind blankness. It figures. It’s disappointing, but it wouldn’t make sense if suddenly this was the moment Link decided to grace the world with actual words.

Link then stands up, signaling the end of whatever this was. He picks up the paraglider and shakes off any stray fish scales that might have gotten stuck to it.

“Good.” Revali mutters, standing to his feet as well, “I have things to do myself as well. Thank you for the salmon. I must concede that it was delicious.”

Link freezes, looking at Revali with slightly furrowed brows.

“What’s with that look? Do you sincerely believe me to be so uncouth I wouldn’t thank another for a meal?”

Link looks away. A silent yes.

Revali narrows his eyes, “Unlike some people, I—”

Link jumps off the platform before Revali can finish. He pulls out the paraglider about halfway down.

That little—! He’s starting to suspect Link doesn’t have any manners or basic etiquette.

While a childish part of him wants to dive down and beat Link to the ground, his pride stops him. He told Link he had been planning to go up to Vah Medoh. If he dives down now, it would be the equivalent to admitting something so trivial had upset him.

Revali gets the impression things will revert back to normal when they meet again. Link will go back to being an emotionless hero. And yet at the same time he knows this moment between them won’t be easily forgotten by either of them.

Revali chuckles, summoning his gale and soaring upwards towards Medoh, feeling lighter than ever before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter didn't have enough fluff, so here we are with the surprise second chapter to the oneshot ♡


End file.
